Transcript Of Flayras Interview
Catpoker
Join Date: 2002-06-25 Member: 816Members
Join Date: 2002-06-25 Member: 816Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Not done yet, but 19 minutes worth</div> well, i said to my self if nobody did it that i would sit down and do it myself, OMG it took 2 hours just to get this, i will work on it more this weekend and the next, right now i am tired and ready for bed, i will edit this post when i complete more.
please bump/sticky this thread, i worked hard on it trying to make out the words <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
PLEASE NOTE: there are some portions of this interview i could not understand, if anybody could help me figure out what was said, please post so i can correct it, Thank you.
WELL, Lets begin:
<!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo-->
Flayra Interview on NSRadio
Date: 2.1.03
Interviewer: Thieggsta
Contact NS Radio on Gamesnet at #NSRadio
Natural Selection Official Channel on Gamesnet #naturalselection
Natural Selection Official Website <a href='http://www.natural-selection.org' target='_blank'>http://www.natural-selection.org</a>
The Mp3 Edited and Hosted by L3on of Planet Natural Selection
see <a href='http://www.PlanetNS.com' target='_blank'>http://www.PlanetNS.com</a> for more details.
Transcript made by Cat-Poker
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Flayra: Hello Everyone!
NSRadio: Alright this is NSRadio, we are sitting down with the legendary flayra, the creator of natural selection. We are doing an interview I guess to establish what going on with natural selection right now and what will be the future of natural selection. So flayra go ahead and introduce your self to the listening masses, I belive you have over 200 people listening to you now?
Flayra: Hello everyone. How exciting! We have gotten off to a rocky start here but I think this is the 3rd time I have answered this question but first of all, I am only one of the creators, we do have a team of 10 people, so I just kinda organize the thing, and crak the whip occasionally, but hello everyone, glad to be with you and this is quite exciting to be able to address the community in kind of one big interview. So.. welcome!
NSRadio: ALRIGHT! Lets go ahead and start with the first question, where do you think the ns clan seen will go? Who do you think are the clans to watch and which has been your favorite?
Flayra: Well, I am hoping the clan scene just takes off, and hopefully once the CAL gets going and 1.1 comes out and HLTV support gets in and all that I am hoping it will just take off (unknown). As far as clans to watch, I would definitely keep my eye on sYn because they are just amazing players and they got great strategies. I think one of the reasons that they are so good right now is that their FPS skills are actually pretty much bar none, which is a little disappointing because I want people to win in NS because they are good at strategy and not just their shooting, but once people can compete with their FPS skills then they can start competing with their strategy. (unknown) well anyways sYn is probably the best clan I have seen so far. (unknown). [TE], at one point, seems to be great, I think I have lost track on them because there are quite a few [TE]s and I got confused, but at one point they were just amazing as well, they probably still are. Some of the international clans, or I should say European clans are starting to show up, AW And NG I?ve have been very impressed by, I am starting to see more matches by them, they seem to have a different mindset when playing, pretty exciting, lot more node control, lot more welding, more guarding, they go for a more longer term, more explosive, kind of indirect approach as opposed to the rushing you see more often in the American clans, those are pretty much the big ones. I have not seen any out of South Korea yet unfortunately, and I have not seen to many from anywhere else, but I am always on the lookout for good ones.
NSRadio: Alright ya, ok well the next question is also another interesting question, What do you in vision the final version of Natural-Selection having? If there will be such a release?
Flayra: Well, that one is pretty easy to answer actually, if you go to the About section of NS.org you?ll see there is a one page list of guidelines and goals, those were established early on, in developing NS, and I remember spending a couple of days just going though and rehashing that one page over and over, making it short as possible and distinct and clear, and that is pretty much the design document and road map for NS, so if something fits those goals and will enhance those goals then there is a good chance it will go in and if something doesn?t then it probably wont. And anything that?s really divergent from those goals will probably go into like a sequel, or some other game or, I am sure there are plenty of great ideas that just don?t fit those, or are not necessary, that what most people don?t seem to not understand is you only put things that are necessary to meet those goals so I am looking for the minimum features that will fertile those goals and NS 1.0 pretty much, to a large extent I feel like, accomplishes those goals and as far it can always be improved will continue to be improved but, that is pretty much the low down right there so that will give you a good idea of what is happening in the future. I hope.
NSRadio: Well that does sound good, and everyone is interested in what?s the next weapon ect. So that is definitely a good answer to that question. Alright, question number 3. What kinds of play will there be in future versions?
Flayra: As far as game modes or something like that?
NSRadio: I am guessing game play modes is what they are asking, because they know you touched on this a while back about it uhh new types of game play modes can you elaborate on that?
Flayra: Yeah, I haven?t actually done much work on an alternative game play modes mostly because I don?t think that they are necessary to meet the goals like I said on the about NS page. That said, if I can come up with a game play mode that would get people interested in NS quickly so they don?t have to suffer though what, generally is a rough first time that they play, you know getting chomped on Skulks that they don?t see and having Onos come out of nowhere and not knowing if it is even a player or what they are suppose to do. So if I could come up with an alternative game play mode that get people interested in the game quicker, that would probably work for a smaller server size, say 3 on 3 or, 2 on 2 even if there is something else I can shift that will kinda complement the mean ns play then I would definitely do that. But I also thought one other type of game play which would almost be a different game, and the reason I have not put it in yet is that it would act like it would uproot the community, but a actually have tried a FPS RPG (Breaking up) it?s an odd idea but an FPS RPG game play mode where it feels like Warcraft III or something like that where you are shooting enemies and leveling up and winning abilities and fighting creeps and stuff like that (laughs), but I think it would be a fun exercise but its just not NS, so maybe some other time in some other form it would work but.. so the short answer is that, new game play modes will go in, with the idea that it would promote (unknown) game play of NS, but I am not just going to throw them in like an escaped version just kinda going in without a life bot? so?
NSRadio: alright, that does sound good? question number 4.. I remember before that you were going to make some marine vs marine type game play.
Flayra: OH oh yes sorry.. um yes that will definitely be going in marines vs marines And alien vs alien, those are definitely going in, I cant commit to a time but there is no way they are not going in, lets put it that way.
NSRadio: well that sounds good, ok cause I remember reading about rumors that you were going to?.
(trails off from .. 7:38 ? 7:55, can not hear)
Flaya (cuts in): I believe it is actually on the website on like the FAQ or something that is says it will be supported but whatever, doesn?t matter.
NSRadio: Alright the next question coming up. I would like to know what changes are going in the next version to make mappers happier?
Flayra: Which new version are you speaking of?
NSRadio: 1.1 or a future version would be a good way to elaborate on that.
Flayra: Well for 1.1, I am trying to check my to-do list here, I don?t actually think is any improvements for 1.1 because it is mostly for clan play and HLTV and that stuff. But in the future, I imagine particle system improvements would go in, better collision detection for particles so you could do things like dripping, well we have dripping, you could actually have lava that flows properly, it works ok right now but it is something not that great, definitely better particlizing tools, I imagine, I mean these are things I would add assuming that I have time to add them later, and I would like to, but I cant promise a date or anything like that. I feel like a spent a fair amount of time adding new features for mappers, basically to entice them to map for this new unknown project, and it worked pretty well with the gamma and the particles and stuff like that. But at this point I am hoping that I don?t have to kind of encourage mappers to get them to keep mapping for NS, I know it frustrating and difficult at times but I don?t want to spend a lot of time working on mapper improvements if they are not needed. So..
NSRadio: Alright that (unknown). The next question is also an interesting one. I know you have true feelings about this question to, so try not to get to emotional.
Flayra: ok
NSRadio: Ask him what he thinks about the custom NS mods floating around on servers, such as the extreme ones at voogru's plug ins, such as the health dispensing armory, that would be one of the many out there.
Flayra: Well, yeah I, it?s a mix you know. On one hand I feel like ok if I painted this nice painting and I gave it to someone, and then they customized my painting before they hung it up on the wall, I might feel a bit offended. But at the same time, who is to say? Its actually nice to see people trying out new ideas, it saves me work, I don?t have to go in and think of an experiment and organize a playtest, so its definitely mixed feelings. I am glad that there are people like voogru who really enjoy tweaking the game, and stuff like that and that is what I love to, so I definitely don?t hold any ill feelings towards him or anything like that. On the other hand, I don?t see myself wanting to support it, like, I am not going to spend extra time making it moddable and if those servers became more widespread, I might feel a little bit different about it because you know, open degree, somebody elses modifications could turn away a player that might have normally liked the game I created, but didn?t like the modified version, so, like many things its not really clear cut.
NSRadio: Alright, that?s understandable, it was a very big thing when you made a statement about it in the forums, I know it was definitely something?..
Flayra: OH, are you referring to the statement about mappers removing entitys from maps?
NSRadio: Alright, it wasn?t just that, it was also the other plug-ins that would **** things to it, but also the removal of entitys and there is another one I think we should touch on as well its not a question that was posted but I think it is also something you should address.
Flayra: I am not super happy on that, I understand that its necessary to keep certain map in rotation, there is no why that I can say I am happy about it, but I am not bitter or anything, it just frustrating because I know how hard that mappers worked to get their maps ambient and to add a lot of detail to them and to have it removed, you know not only if people never saw a map then they wouldn?t make judgments about it but if they see the map and it is boring now then they may think that we never put those details in. So if individuals do it I have NEVER problem with it, I just start to have a little more problem with it when it becomes widespread, and people are giving us scripts and stuff, its actually affecting a reasonable percentage of the servers, then I decide to think twice about it, and I start to get a little unhappy about it. But hopefully we can fix the problem there, which is the server performance and it wont be a problem in the future.
NSRadio: Alright, that?s good. The next question is another mapper related one. I want to know what Flayras stance is on the guy who doubled the max planes limit.
Flayra: You cant set?
(cannot hear)
NSRadio: .... (cuts in) for more detailed maps (unknown) He is basically saying there is a guy who actually doubled the max plane limit, so how do you feel about larger maps?
Flayra: Well it sounds great to me, I just found out about this, (unknown) max planes increases about 15 minutes ago, I didn?t catch that forum post earlier. It sounds great to me, I mean virtually all the mappers that worked on Official NS maps, they ALL ran into max plane problems and it was, I mean you can ask (unknown) sometime and you can see how much he shrivels up when you mention the thing, or Merkaba. They both ran into a lot of problems it was hell for them to get around them so.. As far as larger NS maps go, you know, I don?t think that having much lager maps is really a great thing at this point, the balance tends to get fairly skied when you get large maps and I don?t really want to conjecture to much about it but, from looking at the stats, the phycostats that are out there now (Thanks StormTrooper by the way, you rule!) by looking at the stats now, and looking at the size of the maps, you can definitely (laughs) make some guesses about how large scale maps effect balance. (trails off)
NSRadio: Alright that is definitely good I know that you were kind of touchy as far as large scale maps in fact is was said by some mapper?
Flayra: TOUCHY!!!
NSRadio: that you preferred smaller maps?.
Flayra: TOUCHY!!!
NSRadio: well not touchy?.
Grabbled Noise
NSRadio: I wouldn?t say touchy, (noise from Flayra) they did make a point that you wanted smaller maps because it would sort of make the balance better and the game play a little bit more faster I guess. That is what they said would be one of your criteria for picking maps, cause they know, all the mappers out there that are making maps with just either hope that their map gets in or it becomes a regular rotation custom map.
Flayra: Right, well I think that generally people like smaller maps, I mean, people like action, people like not getting lost, people like not wondering around by themselves for a ten minutes only to die to something they didn?t see. Yeah it great, especially in the old versions of Hera, where you are off wondering by yourself or with a small squad, you know, you are really cut off from the rest of the game, that actually is a really cool feeling, but in general, it tends to be a problem, because the server ops, it tends to be a problem because of new players and stuff like that. And we have large maps like Caged, and Hera, I think those are the two largest maps, those can hold 32 players, no problem, and what we don?t have is a map that can handle, you know, 4 on 4, actually we do now with greedos very excellent NS_Lost, so I just wanted a way to kind of balance the maps, and having some small ones can really fill that out.
NSRadio: Alright, ok, definitely want to touch on that for all the mappers out there who are making maps for you. In fact that will lead us into another question for aspersing mappers who wish to summit a new map to you to approve for a next version of Natural-Selection possibly. What are your criteria, if you?ll reveal them to the community, what are your criteria for selecting a map?
Flayra: Sure, they are pretty obvious I think, I mean not obvious but it won?t surprise anyone. The number one issues is game play, and occasionally the game play can conflict if the visuals are really really good. But generally the game play is the one criteria as long as the map is not ugly, it if plays great it has a really good chance of getting in. I sometimes look at a map which is just so ugly that I cant even test the game play because I cant get past the visuals and it would be a blemish, unfortunately. It would drag all the other maps. So game play is number one and visuals are right up there with it. Lets see? server performance, which is now a big issue because now that we have released, we know what the average server runs at, so it?s kind of a hard lesson to learn. So basically those are probably the 3 criteria. As far as balance goes, there is no way to tell the balance early on, so just kind of make the map, use your intuition, don?t second guess yourself just go with what you feel is balanced, and then after its out there, you can look at the stats, talk to the clans, talk with the pub players, talk with me, and we can tweak it to where all the maps can get to that 50-50 ratio. Or should I say get to the ratio that the game currently is. So those are pretty much the criteria.
NSRadio: Alright this is definitely good to hear. Speaking of the infamous performance question, I know the server administrators will love to hear this especially the lunix ones. What can we expect in 1.1 as far as the performance increases, exactly what are you working on because there are quite a few rumors out there of what you are currently working on, who you are working with, there is a rumor that your working with valve on creating a solution, can you please elaborate on those, as far as server administrators can look forward to in 1.1, especially the lunix ones.
Flayra: Well I don?t know about all those rumors, but I am hoping, I mean I have not gotten that much feedback on it, but from what I have seen so far that I mean the main optimizations I could do for lunix were done for 1.04 which is updating to a new version of (unknown, some lunix term I guess), umm that was pretty much the main one, and I have heard that people have gotten 25% and higher increases in speed under the lunix version in 1.04 over 1.03, and that they are really, the code is no different between the lunix and the win32 version, maybe there is something in can do to speed up one over the other, but you are going to have to talk to one of the open source guys and get them to improve their complier, because there really shouldn?t be any differences between the two, unless well, you could make the argument that the average lunix server is less powerful the then win32 servers because the OS is ?more efficient?. As far as other things go like 1.1, I am not planning to do any optimizations, only because, well I shouldn?t say that, some of the maps are being optimized, but I wont be doing anything to the code, only because I spent a couple of weeks on it to make the increases that hopefully everyone saw from 1.01 to1.02 and unfortunately I cannot do much more. There is going to be small amount I can do here to there like reducing the verbainitys (some computer term) and stuff like that, but there is not going to be any giant strides anytime soon, and definitely not for 1.1 unfortunately.
NSRadio: Alright, well lets go ahead and move on to the next question, in fact this one is kind of a personal question. Did you ever expect NS to be this big and have a community and do you enjoy the respect you enjoy from the community?
Flayra: Oh sure, its great. Yea, its great having people actually play the game. I would not say its that big yet but I never knew if it was going to go anywhere, if it was going to completely flop, or if it was going to take off, I and think its probably gone pretty well for the amount of time it has been out there. I watch the stats all the time, and I am always wanting it to be bigger, so its not like my work is done or I am so happy that its where it is now, like yea its satisfying but I want it to be a lot bigger. And as far as expectations like I said, I really had no idea, I thought it was either going to bomb or take off and I cant really tell, I guess it hasn?t bombed, I am not sure if it has taken off yet or not, but maybe compared to Counter-Strike, or something else in its early stages, after 2 months, Counter-Strike probably didn?t have this many players, so hopefully there is reasons to be optimistic and that it will continue to grow. And its definitely great to see people play, I mean that is why I did it for Half-Life. That?s the only pretty much, I wanted more exposure, and I a lot of people to play this type of game, the first time an idea like this has come, and as a game developer I can get a larger audience through Half-Life mods, then I could if I when and licensed an engine and try to convince the publisher to give me a title, get me a budget, and get me into retail. On day one we had this giant Half-Life community that is just ravenous for new content. Opening night we had over 2000 players and that is just like unheard of in the retail game, so yeah is been great so see people go crazy with it.
NSRadio: That?s definitely a very big explosion in the Natural-Selection community, and I just hope it grows even farther. Moving on lets go to the next question, which has to do with the community as well. What do you think of the fan contribution such as the boon dock rap song and the onos interview.
Flayra: (laughs) Well they are awesome, I don?t think why anyone would think they are not. The onos interview is a little disturbing because it?s very surreal, and just odd, you know the little tinkling of the ice cubes in the background, and he is chatting up in this accent, its just classic. I love seeing that stuff, that is probably my favorite part of creating the game is seeing how much it affects people, hopefully in a good way, and how they use our fictional platform for learning how to rap, or learning how to create stuff, or write funny dialog, or they learn HTML or flash, or they learn how to play competitively, or how to organize a team or all these things, or learn how to program to write add-ons, that?s really the (unknown) to go crazy with it. And both of those raps are just hilarious, the boon dock one doesn?t fit our community guidelines, it a little nasty, which is to bad, but its so well done and so funny that its great, same thing with the new alien one, I forgot who did it, but it came out yesterday, Fangs is what its called I guess? Its just really good stuff, so keep it on guys.
NSRadio: Alright, he adds that he is definitely amused by those things. The next one has to do with 1.1. What is the status on the 1.1 patch and what is the estimated time of release?
Flayra: I don?t want to even guess a time, but lets see, status I don?t know (laughs), I have been working on it, I started working on it before I released 1.04 so it might be out a little bit sooner that most people think. It is going pretty well I just merged to the Hal-Life 2.3 SDK, which was actually a fair amount of work. But one of the things that comes with that is the new spectator stuff so, you know, everybody else wants First-Person spectating, so if you die you can go watch your friends, you have the whole Half-Life GUI with the little overhead map in the upper left and all those extra camera modes and stuff. HLTV is working as of yesterday, still waiting for overviews from the official mappers but that will definitely be in 1.1, I am pretty excited about that. And, (pauses) I don?t know if I have my to-do list here or not, but things in general seem to be going well.
NSRadio: Alright, here is another 1.1 question. How many maps exactly will be included in 1.1?
Flayra: There is no way of knowing that yet, but I am hoping for a couple at least. It would be nice to say, have two solid new maps, I would love to have that. I know we are going to get more submissions then two. But if there were one or two maps that are just dynamite they would definitely go in, and hopefully some of the original maps will be revised as well. And I definitely don?t expect to be cutting any maps anytime soon, I cant imagine where there will ever be a point where that will happen, maybe a long ways away if that happens, so hopefully a couple of new maps.
NSRadio: Alright, next question from a user happens to do with balance with 1.04, you may or may not like this so.
Flayra (interrupts): Wait
(Both Talking)
Flayra: can I interrupt you for just a second
NSRadio: Sure
Flarya: I just wanted to mention something off that map comment, if anyone wants to run custom maps, please do so and give feedback on the mapping forums, which would be really helpful. Especially because its nice to see what people think of the maps before we consider them and that will go a long why as to whether they will be accepted or not. So, sorry about that.
NSRadio: That?s all right I was actually going to ask you a question after that in regards to that. The next question actually deals with balance issues so its up to you weather or not to take this one.
Flayra: Sure
NSRadio: Ever since 1.04 I have noticed an alien advantage in most maps. In particular, Fades are stronger, sometimes more then heavy weapons, and sometimes heavy armor. Do you think there is still a disadvantage from one team to the other, or do you think its equal?
Flayra: Well, First of all, there are a couple of things to remember about balance discussions, which I think some of these I have learned. I have heard before that I didn?t really believe till releasing NS. But first of all, you are always going to have people that complain, and somebody told me once that you only know a game is balanced when equal numbers of players complain on all sides, and I think the same is true for NS. You are always going to have people that feel like something was changed, and ?Its awful now!? and ?OMG is so terrible!? and ?I am going to leave the community!? and ?Its so broken!?. That said, Fade power has not changed, heavy armor power is not changed, HMG is not changed, the only thing that is changed is the cost of fades, so the argument just sounds completely ludicrous to me, unless you are talking about experienced players who now are getting better, and so I don?t buy that argument. As far as overall balance goes, its not balanced yet, its had a nice (unknown) of balance for a long time, and its gotten better with ever version, I fully believe that, but we still have work to do. What interesting to is that I have noticed in clan games the marines are overpowered and in pub games the aliens are overpowered, which kind of blows my mind. And people have suggested ?oh well you should have tournament mode balanced things one way? you know like say marines are overpowered so in tournament mode reduce the machine gun bullet from 10 to 9 and then in non-tournament the aliens are to powerful so change the hive cost from whatever to whatever. I want everyone to know that down that road is madness and they have to be reconciled; we can?t have 2 versions of the game running around for a lot of different reasons. So.. The balance war continues and right now its not fully balanced. And you know, look at Starcraft it took them to get balanced, people were still finding holes where on this map the Zerg were to powerful, so we are just going to have to keep doing that work and, I am not going to give up. Its just going to take a while, just hang in there.
NSRadio: I belive that also addressed the arguments as far as the balance issues that go on within the community that is always talked about. The next question is actually has to do with mapping again. This is also a very good one; it?s coming from Counter-Strike I am guessing. What are your plans or thoughts on NS maps with side objectives that play plans follow. To put in an example on Counter-Strike maps there?s the hostage rescue, there is the bomb defusing, not to mention science and industry where you can capture all the scientists or destroy their equipment to prevent them from researching certain things. What kind of things will there be, if any in newer versions of Natural-Selection, have you thought of it?
Flayra: I think I understand the question, but if they are not talking about alternate game play modes then you are talking about map scripting or map behaviors, well yeah the are cool, they are definitely neat, and I like the idea. As far as how they fit in NS, it doesn?t seem like a great idea to me, I mean there is so much to worry about in the game already, with you know like looking at what the opponents are doing, where are their players what?s their attack what strategy they are doing, like those are the core idea when playing a game of NS. You know going, and planting a nuke somewhere to blow away half the station is a side effect, it?s a really neat idea, but its sounds to complex who have a difficult time learning the game, it sounds like a side quest that is not completely necessary, it just doesn?t belong. There is one other thing I was going to mention about that, (pause) Oh, in multiplayer, in general, at least in NS, there are times where you have those little missions and I noticed them a bit more during our playtests then now when it?s released and I am not really sure why. But here were times when we had little side quests, like we would be holed up in refinery or somewhere or like maintenance in Hera and when it was really far away someone would have the one welder that they needed to get back to the comm. station and weld that I guess that is the reason why it doesn?t happen anymore, they used to be able to weld the comm. station after it was destroyed to get it back again and there were times when there were little side missions, like the gorge would have to run off and have to restart the whole race again because they lost all their hives, so hopefully I like to promote those types of experiences in general, little memorable side quests and interludes, but I like them to be emergent of the core game rules and not as a specific map behavior that has to be learned and specific to one situation
----STOPPED AT 34:40 Will continue later ----
EDIT: voogru is now spelled right, bots are now mods, (thanks voogru)
EDIT: maccbba changed to Merkaba, (thanks Fam)
EDIT: I now have 35 Minutes of the interview, i have recived a PM from PlanetNS about divying up up portions of the transcript to its staff members to copy down, i will await insturctions
EDIT: minor spelling changes, (thanks you porp and Ramses)
please bump/sticky this thread, i worked hard on it trying to make out the words <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
PLEASE NOTE: there are some portions of this interview i could not understand, if anybody could help me figure out what was said, please post so i can correct it, Thank you.
WELL, Lets begin:
<!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo-->
Flayra Interview on NSRadio
Date: 2.1.03
Interviewer: Thieggsta
Contact NS Radio on Gamesnet at #NSRadio
Natural Selection Official Channel on Gamesnet #naturalselection
Natural Selection Official Website <a href='http://www.natural-selection.org' target='_blank'>http://www.natural-selection.org</a>
The Mp3 Edited and Hosted by L3on of Planet Natural Selection
see <a href='http://www.PlanetNS.com' target='_blank'>http://www.PlanetNS.com</a> for more details.
Transcript made by Cat-Poker
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Flayra: Hello Everyone!
NSRadio: Alright this is NSRadio, we are sitting down with the legendary flayra, the creator of natural selection. We are doing an interview I guess to establish what going on with natural selection right now and what will be the future of natural selection. So flayra go ahead and introduce your self to the listening masses, I belive you have over 200 people listening to you now?
Flayra: Hello everyone. How exciting! We have gotten off to a rocky start here but I think this is the 3rd time I have answered this question but first of all, I am only one of the creators, we do have a team of 10 people, so I just kinda organize the thing, and crak the whip occasionally, but hello everyone, glad to be with you and this is quite exciting to be able to address the community in kind of one big interview. So.. welcome!
NSRadio: ALRIGHT! Lets go ahead and start with the first question, where do you think the ns clan seen will go? Who do you think are the clans to watch and which has been your favorite?
Flayra: Well, I am hoping the clan scene just takes off, and hopefully once the CAL gets going and 1.1 comes out and HLTV support gets in and all that I am hoping it will just take off (unknown). As far as clans to watch, I would definitely keep my eye on sYn because they are just amazing players and they got great strategies. I think one of the reasons that they are so good right now is that their FPS skills are actually pretty much bar none, which is a little disappointing because I want people to win in NS because they are good at strategy and not just their shooting, but once people can compete with their FPS skills then they can start competing with their strategy. (unknown) well anyways sYn is probably the best clan I have seen so far. (unknown). [TE], at one point, seems to be great, I think I have lost track on them because there are quite a few [TE]s and I got confused, but at one point they were just amazing as well, they probably still are. Some of the international clans, or I should say European clans are starting to show up, AW And NG I?ve have been very impressed by, I am starting to see more matches by them, they seem to have a different mindset when playing, pretty exciting, lot more node control, lot more welding, more guarding, they go for a more longer term, more explosive, kind of indirect approach as opposed to the rushing you see more often in the American clans, those are pretty much the big ones. I have not seen any out of South Korea yet unfortunately, and I have not seen to many from anywhere else, but I am always on the lookout for good ones.
NSRadio: Alright ya, ok well the next question is also another interesting question, What do you in vision the final version of Natural-Selection having? If there will be such a release?
Flayra: Well, that one is pretty easy to answer actually, if you go to the About section of NS.org you?ll see there is a one page list of guidelines and goals, those were established early on, in developing NS, and I remember spending a couple of days just going though and rehashing that one page over and over, making it short as possible and distinct and clear, and that is pretty much the design document and road map for NS, so if something fits those goals and will enhance those goals then there is a good chance it will go in and if something doesn?t then it probably wont. And anything that?s really divergent from those goals will probably go into like a sequel, or some other game or, I am sure there are plenty of great ideas that just don?t fit those, or are not necessary, that what most people don?t seem to not understand is you only put things that are necessary to meet those goals so I am looking for the minimum features that will fertile those goals and NS 1.0 pretty much, to a large extent I feel like, accomplishes those goals and as far it can always be improved will continue to be improved but, that is pretty much the low down right there so that will give you a good idea of what is happening in the future. I hope.
NSRadio: Well that does sound good, and everyone is interested in what?s the next weapon ect. So that is definitely a good answer to that question. Alright, question number 3. What kinds of play will there be in future versions?
Flayra: As far as game modes or something like that?
NSRadio: I am guessing game play modes is what they are asking, because they know you touched on this a while back about it uhh new types of game play modes can you elaborate on that?
Flayra: Yeah, I haven?t actually done much work on an alternative game play modes mostly because I don?t think that they are necessary to meet the goals like I said on the about NS page. That said, if I can come up with a game play mode that would get people interested in NS quickly so they don?t have to suffer though what, generally is a rough first time that they play, you know getting chomped on Skulks that they don?t see and having Onos come out of nowhere and not knowing if it is even a player or what they are suppose to do. So if I could come up with an alternative game play mode that get people interested in the game quicker, that would probably work for a smaller server size, say 3 on 3 or, 2 on 2 even if there is something else I can shift that will kinda complement the mean ns play then I would definitely do that. But I also thought one other type of game play which would almost be a different game, and the reason I have not put it in yet is that it would act like it would uproot the community, but a actually have tried a FPS RPG (Breaking up) it?s an odd idea but an FPS RPG game play mode where it feels like Warcraft III or something like that where you are shooting enemies and leveling up and winning abilities and fighting creeps and stuff like that (laughs), but I think it would be a fun exercise but its just not NS, so maybe some other time in some other form it would work but.. so the short answer is that, new game play modes will go in, with the idea that it would promote (unknown) game play of NS, but I am not just going to throw them in like an escaped version just kinda going in without a life bot? so?
NSRadio: alright, that does sound good? question number 4.. I remember before that you were going to make some marine vs marine type game play.
Flayra: OH oh yes sorry.. um yes that will definitely be going in marines vs marines And alien vs alien, those are definitely going in, I cant commit to a time but there is no way they are not going in, lets put it that way.
NSRadio: well that sounds good, ok cause I remember reading about rumors that you were going to?.
(trails off from .. 7:38 ? 7:55, can not hear)
Flaya (cuts in): I believe it is actually on the website on like the FAQ or something that is says it will be supported but whatever, doesn?t matter.
NSRadio: Alright the next question coming up. I would like to know what changes are going in the next version to make mappers happier?
Flayra: Which new version are you speaking of?
NSRadio: 1.1 or a future version would be a good way to elaborate on that.
Flayra: Well for 1.1, I am trying to check my to-do list here, I don?t actually think is any improvements for 1.1 because it is mostly for clan play and HLTV and that stuff. But in the future, I imagine particle system improvements would go in, better collision detection for particles so you could do things like dripping, well we have dripping, you could actually have lava that flows properly, it works ok right now but it is something not that great, definitely better particlizing tools, I imagine, I mean these are things I would add assuming that I have time to add them later, and I would like to, but I cant promise a date or anything like that. I feel like a spent a fair amount of time adding new features for mappers, basically to entice them to map for this new unknown project, and it worked pretty well with the gamma and the particles and stuff like that. But at this point I am hoping that I don?t have to kind of encourage mappers to get them to keep mapping for NS, I know it frustrating and difficult at times but I don?t want to spend a lot of time working on mapper improvements if they are not needed. So..
NSRadio: Alright that (unknown). The next question is also an interesting one. I know you have true feelings about this question to, so try not to get to emotional.
Flayra: ok
NSRadio: Ask him what he thinks about the custom NS mods floating around on servers, such as the extreme ones at voogru's plug ins, such as the health dispensing armory, that would be one of the many out there.
Flayra: Well, yeah I, it?s a mix you know. On one hand I feel like ok if I painted this nice painting and I gave it to someone, and then they customized my painting before they hung it up on the wall, I might feel a bit offended. But at the same time, who is to say? Its actually nice to see people trying out new ideas, it saves me work, I don?t have to go in and think of an experiment and organize a playtest, so its definitely mixed feelings. I am glad that there are people like voogru who really enjoy tweaking the game, and stuff like that and that is what I love to, so I definitely don?t hold any ill feelings towards him or anything like that. On the other hand, I don?t see myself wanting to support it, like, I am not going to spend extra time making it moddable and if those servers became more widespread, I might feel a little bit different about it because you know, open degree, somebody elses modifications could turn away a player that might have normally liked the game I created, but didn?t like the modified version, so, like many things its not really clear cut.
NSRadio: Alright, that?s understandable, it was a very big thing when you made a statement about it in the forums, I know it was definitely something?..
Flayra: OH, are you referring to the statement about mappers removing entitys from maps?
NSRadio: Alright, it wasn?t just that, it was also the other plug-ins that would **** things to it, but also the removal of entitys and there is another one I think we should touch on as well its not a question that was posted but I think it is also something you should address.
Flayra: I am not super happy on that, I understand that its necessary to keep certain map in rotation, there is no why that I can say I am happy about it, but I am not bitter or anything, it just frustrating because I know how hard that mappers worked to get their maps ambient and to add a lot of detail to them and to have it removed, you know not only if people never saw a map then they wouldn?t make judgments about it but if they see the map and it is boring now then they may think that we never put those details in. So if individuals do it I have NEVER problem with it, I just start to have a little more problem with it when it becomes widespread, and people are giving us scripts and stuff, its actually affecting a reasonable percentage of the servers, then I decide to think twice about it, and I start to get a little unhappy about it. But hopefully we can fix the problem there, which is the server performance and it wont be a problem in the future.
NSRadio: Alright, that?s good. The next question is another mapper related one. I want to know what Flayras stance is on the guy who doubled the max planes limit.
Flayra: You cant set?
(cannot hear)
NSRadio: .... (cuts in) for more detailed maps (unknown) He is basically saying there is a guy who actually doubled the max plane limit, so how do you feel about larger maps?
Flayra: Well it sounds great to me, I just found out about this, (unknown) max planes increases about 15 minutes ago, I didn?t catch that forum post earlier. It sounds great to me, I mean virtually all the mappers that worked on Official NS maps, they ALL ran into max plane problems and it was, I mean you can ask (unknown) sometime and you can see how much he shrivels up when you mention the thing, or Merkaba. They both ran into a lot of problems it was hell for them to get around them so.. As far as larger NS maps go, you know, I don?t think that having much lager maps is really a great thing at this point, the balance tends to get fairly skied when you get large maps and I don?t really want to conjecture to much about it but, from looking at the stats, the phycostats that are out there now (Thanks StormTrooper by the way, you rule!) by looking at the stats now, and looking at the size of the maps, you can definitely (laughs) make some guesses about how large scale maps effect balance. (trails off)
NSRadio: Alright that is definitely good I know that you were kind of touchy as far as large scale maps in fact is was said by some mapper?
Flayra: TOUCHY!!!
NSRadio: that you preferred smaller maps?.
Flayra: TOUCHY!!!
NSRadio: well not touchy?.
Grabbled Noise
NSRadio: I wouldn?t say touchy, (noise from Flayra) they did make a point that you wanted smaller maps because it would sort of make the balance better and the game play a little bit more faster I guess. That is what they said would be one of your criteria for picking maps, cause they know, all the mappers out there that are making maps with just either hope that their map gets in or it becomes a regular rotation custom map.
Flayra: Right, well I think that generally people like smaller maps, I mean, people like action, people like not getting lost, people like not wondering around by themselves for a ten minutes only to die to something they didn?t see. Yeah it great, especially in the old versions of Hera, where you are off wondering by yourself or with a small squad, you know, you are really cut off from the rest of the game, that actually is a really cool feeling, but in general, it tends to be a problem, because the server ops, it tends to be a problem because of new players and stuff like that. And we have large maps like Caged, and Hera, I think those are the two largest maps, those can hold 32 players, no problem, and what we don?t have is a map that can handle, you know, 4 on 4, actually we do now with greedos very excellent NS_Lost, so I just wanted a way to kind of balance the maps, and having some small ones can really fill that out.
NSRadio: Alright, ok, definitely want to touch on that for all the mappers out there who are making maps for you. In fact that will lead us into another question for aspersing mappers who wish to summit a new map to you to approve for a next version of Natural-Selection possibly. What are your criteria, if you?ll reveal them to the community, what are your criteria for selecting a map?
Flayra: Sure, they are pretty obvious I think, I mean not obvious but it won?t surprise anyone. The number one issues is game play, and occasionally the game play can conflict if the visuals are really really good. But generally the game play is the one criteria as long as the map is not ugly, it if plays great it has a really good chance of getting in. I sometimes look at a map which is just so ugly that I cant even test the game play because I cant get past the visuals and it would be a blemish, unfortunately. It would drag all the other maps. So game play is number one and visuals are right up there with it. Lets see? server performance, which is now a big issue because now that we have released, we know what the average server runs at, so it?s kind of a hard lesson to learn. So basically those are probably the 3 criteria. As far as balance goes, there is no way to tell the balance early on, so just kind of make the map, use your intuition, don?t second guess yourself just go with what you feel is balanced, and then after its out there, you can look at the stats, talk to the clans, talk with the pub players, talk with me, and we can tweak it to where all the maps can get to that 50-50 ratio. Or should I say get to the ratio that the game currently is. So those are pretty much the criteria.
NSRadio: Alright this is definitely good to hear. Speaking of the infamous performance question, I know the server administrators will love to hear this especially the lunix ones. What can we expect in 1.1 as far as the performance increases, exactly what are you working on because there are quite a few rumors out there of what you are currently working on, who you are working with, there is a rumor that your working with valve on creating a solution, can you please elaborate on those, as far as server administrators can look forward to in 1.1, especially the lunix ones.
Flayra: Well I don?t know about all those rumors, but I am hoping, I mean I have not gotten that much feedback on it, but from what I have seen so far that I mean the main optimizations I could do for lunix were done for 1.04 which is updating to a new version of (unknown, some lunix term I guess), umm that was pretty much the main one, and I have heard that people have gotten 25% and higher increases in speed under the lunix version in 1.04 over 1.03, and that they are really, the code is no different between the lunix and the win32 version, maybe there is something in can do to speed up one over the other, but you are going to have to talk to one of the open source guys and get them to improve their complier, because there really shouldn?t be any differences between the two, unless well, you could make the argument that the average lunix server is less powerful the then win32 servers because the OS is ?more efficient?. As far as other things go like 1.1, I am not planning to do any optimizations, only because, well I shouldn?t say that, some of the maps are being optimized, but I wont be doing anything to the code, only because I spent a couple of weeks on it to make the increases that hopefully everyone saw from 1.01 to1.02 and unfortunately I cannot do much more. There is going to be small amount I can do here to there like reducing the verbainitys (some computer term) and stuff like that, but there is not going to be any giant strides anytime soon, and definitely not for 1.1 unfortunately.
NSRadio: Alright, well lets go ahead and move on to the next question, in fact this one is kind of a personal question. Did you ever expect NS to be this big and have a community and do you enjoy the respect you enjoy from the community?
Flayra: Oh sure, its great. Yea, its great having people actually play the game. I would not say its that big yet but I never knew if it was going to go anywhere, if it was going to completely flop, or if it was going to take off, I and think its probably gone pretty well for the amount of time it has been out there. I watch the stats all the time, and I am always wanting it to be bigger, so its not like my work is done or I am so happy that its where it is now, like yea its satisfying but I want it to be a lot bigger. And as far as expectations like I said, I really had no idea, I thought it was either going to bomb or take off and I cant really tell, I guess it hasn?t bombed, I am not sure if it has taken off yet or not, but maybe compared to Counter-Strike, or something else in its early stages, after 2 months, Counter-Strike probably didn?t have this many players, so hopefully there is reasons to be optimistic and that it will continue to grow. And its definitely great to see people play, I mean that is why I did it for Half-Life. That?s the only pretty much, I wanted more exposure, and I a lot of people to play this type of game, the first time an idea like this has come, and as a game developer I can get a larger audience through Half-Life mods, then I could if I when and licensed an engine and try to convince the publisher to give me a title, get me a budget, and get me into retail. On day one we had this giant Half-Life community that is just ravenous for new content. Opening night we had over 2000 players and that is just like unheard of in the retail game, so yeah is been great so see people go crazy with it.
NSRadio: That?s definitely a very big explosion in the Natural-Selection community, and I just hope it grows even farther. Moving on lets go to the next question, which has to do with the community as well. What do you think of the fan contribution such as the boon dock rap song and the onos interview.
Flayra: (laughs) Well they are awesome, I don?t think why anyone would think they are not. The onos interview is a little disturbing because it?s very surreal, and just odd, you know the little tinkling of the ice cubes in the background, and he is chatting up in this accent, its just classic. I love seeing that stuff, that is probably my favorite part of creating the game is seeing how much it affects people, hopefully in a good way, and how they use our fictional platform for learning how to rap, or learning how to create stuff, or write funny dialog, or they learn HTML or flash, or they learn how to play competitively, or how to organize a team or all these things, or learn how to program to write add-ons, that?s really the (unknown) to go crazy with it. And both of those raps are just hilarious, the boon dock one doesn?t fit our community guidelines, it a little nasty, which is to bad, but its so well done and so funny that its great, same thing with the new alien one, I forgot who did it, but it came out yesterday, Fangs is what its called I guess? Its just really good stuff, so keep it on guys.
NSRadio: Alright, he adds that he is definitely amused by those things. The next one has to do with 1.1. What is the status on the 1.1 patch and what is the estimated time of release?
Flayra: I don?t want to even guess a time, but lets see, status I don?t know (laughs), I have been working on it, I started working on it before I released 1.04 so it might be out a little bit sooner that most people think. It is going pretty well I just merged to the Hal-Life 2.3 SDK, which was actually a fair amount of work. But one of the things that comes with that is the new spectator stuff so, you know, everybody else wants First-Person spectating, so if you die you can go watch your friends, you have the whole Half-Life GUI with the little overhead map in the upper left and all those extra camera modes and stuff. HLTV is working as of yesterday, still waiting for overviews from the official mappers but that will definitely be in 1.1, I am pretty excited about that. And, (pauses) I don?t know if I have my to-do list here or not, but things in general seem to be going well.
NSRadio: Alright, here is another 1.1 question. How many maps exactly will be included in 1.1?
Flayra: There is no way of knowing that yet, but I am hoping for a couple at least. It would be nice to say, have two solid new maps, I would love to have that. I know we are going to get more submissions then two. But if there were one or two maps that are just dynamite they would definitely go in, and hopefully some of the original maps will be revised as well. And I definitely don?t expect to be cutting any maps anytime soon, I cant imagine where there will ever be a point where that will happen, maybe a long ways away if that happens, so hopefully a couple of new maps.
NSRadio: Alright, next question from a user happens to do with balance with 1.04, you may or may not like this so.
Flayra (interrupts): Wait
(Both Talking)
Flayra: can I interrupt you for just a second
NSRadio: Sure
Flarya: I just wanted to mention something off that map comment, if anyone wants to run custom maps, please do so and give feedback on the mapping forums, which would be really helpful. Especially because its nice to see what people think of the maps before we consider them and that will go a long why as to whether they will be accepted or not. So, sorry about that.
NSRadio: That?s all right I was actually going to ask you a question after that in regards to that. The next question actually deals with balance issues so its up to you weather or not to take this one.
Flayra: Sure
NSRadio: Ever since 1.04 I have noticed an alien advantage in most maps. In particular, Fades are stronger, sometimes more then heavy weapons, and sometimes heavy armor. Do you think there is still a disadvantage from one team to the other, or do you think its equal?
Flayra: Well, First of all, there are a couple of things to remember about balance discussions, which I think some of these I have learned. I have heard before that I didn?t really believe till releasing NS. But first of all, you are always going to have people that complain, and somebody told me once that you only know a game is balanced when equal numbers of players complain on all sides, and I think the same is true for NS. You are always going to have people that feel like something was changed, and ?Its awful now!? and ?OMG is so terrible!? and ?I am going to leave the community!? and ?Its so broken!?. That said, Fade power has not changed, heavy armor power is not changed, HMG is not changed, the only thing that is changed is the cost of fades, so the argument just sounds completely ludicrous to me, unless you are talking about experienced players who now are getting better, and so I don?t buy that argument. As far as overall balance goes, its not balanced yet, its had a nice (unknown) of balance for a long time, and its gotten better with ever version, I fully believe that, but we still have work to do. What interesting to is that I have noticed in clan games the marines are overpowered and in pub games the aliens are overpowered, which kind of blows my mind. And people have suggested ?oh well you should have tournament mode balanced things one way? you know like say marines are overpowered so in tournament mode reduce the machine gun bullet from 10 to 9 and then in non-tournament the aliens are to powerful so change the hive cost from whatever to whatever. I want everyone to know that down that road is madness and they have to be reconciled; we can?t have 2 versions of the game running around for a lot of different reasons. So.. The balance war continues and right now its not fully balanced. And you know, look at Starcraft it took them to get balanced, people were still finding holes where on this map the Zerg were to powerful, so we are just going to have to keep doing that work and, I am not going to give up. Its just going to take a while, just hang in there.
NSRadio: I belive that also addressed the arguments as far as the balance issues that go on within the community that is always talked about. The next question is actually has to do with mapping again. This is also a very good one; it?s coming from Counter-Strike I am guessing. What are your plans or thoughts on NS maps with side objectives that play plans follow. To put in an example on Counter-Strike maps there?s the hostage rescue, there is the bomb defusing, not to mention science and industry where you can capture all the scientists or destroy their equipment to prevent them from researching certain things. What kind of things will there be, if any in newer versions of Natural-Selection, have you thought of it?
Flayra: I think I understand the question, but if they are not talking about alternate game play modes then you are talking about map scripting or map behaviors, well yeah the are cool, they are definitely neat, and I like the idea. As far as how they fit in NS, it doesn?t seem like a great idea to me, I mean there is so much to worry about in the game already, with you know like looking at what the opponents are doing, where are their players what?s their attack what strategy they are doing, like those are the core idea when playing a game of NS. You know going, and planting a nuke somewhere to blow away half the station is a side effect, it?s a really neat idea, but its sounds to complex who have a difficult time learning the game, it sounds like a side quest that is not completely necessary, it just doesn?t belong. There is one other thing I was going to mention about that, (pause) Oh, in multiplayer, in general, at least in NS, there are times where you have those little missions and I noticed them a bit more during our playtests then now when it?s released and I am not really sure why. But here were times when we had little side quests, like we would be holed up in refinery or somewhere or like maintenance in Hera and when it was really far away someone would have the one welder that they needed to get back to the comm. station and weld that I guess that is the reason why it doesn?t happen anymore, they used to be able to weld the comm. station after it was destroyed to get it back again and there were times when there were little side missions, like the gorge would have to run off and have to restart the whole race again because they lost all their hives, so hopefully I like to promote those types of experiences in general, little memorable side quests and interludes, but I like them to be emergent of the core game rules and not as a specific map behavior that has to be learned and specific to one situation
----STOPPED AT 34:40 Will continue later ----
EDIT: voogru is now spelled right, bots are now mods, (thanks voogru)
EDIT: maccbba changed to Merkaba, (thanks Fam)
EDIT: I now have 35 Minutes of the interview, i have recived a PM from PlanetNS about divying up up portions of the transcript to its staff members to copy down, i will await insturctions
EDIT: minor spelling changes, (thanks you porp and Ramses)
Comments
Thanks <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
oh well i am i guy who commits, it might take a bit, but it WILL get done
STICKY! STICKY!
no? im sad <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
I dont make bots, so "bots" should be mods and "vogroos" should be voogru's
no? im sad <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah hehe I laughed <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
And I'm glad Flayra officially voiced his disapproval of those server mods.
Go Flay!
He's right <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Particles are the only graphical effect that sucks in NS. You can code really better particles, take a look at mine below <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> (that's not a HL screenshot and the particles aren't textured).
and... and?
Also, "maccbba" should read "Merkaba".
Also, "maccbba" should read "Merkaba". <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
lol I made it to show you can do nearly anything <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
If you want colorful "things" it's really not a problem:
And to the transcriber, i think 'definitely' is spelled wrong throughout as 'defiantly', two very different words. Maybe just do a search and replace to make it easier on future readers. Great job otherwise, thanks for spending the time on it.
And to the transcriber, i think 'definitely' is spelled wrong throughout as 'defiantly', two very different words. Maybe just do a search and replace to make it easier on future readers. Great job otherwise, thanks for spending the time on it. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hmm
Render in-game:
<a href='http://www.halflifexpert.com/pbm/captures/50.jpg' target='_blank'>http://www.halflifexpert.com/pbm/captures/50.jpg</a>
And this is just version 1...
The fountain above was version 2
oh, and @Incitatus, flay did NOT voice disaprovale of server mods. What he has stated (and said it before) is that he does NOT like the MAP changes ppl have been doing.
He Likes the fact that voogru does this type of stuff
he is slightly iffy on the subject in general but for now seems to be on the side of it
Nice job so far <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
its 22 megs mate. I'm on 64k and it took me about 2 hours to get, so say 3 for you i guess.
It was there, I downloaded it, but seems to have dissapeared in the redesign.
E-mail and ask them about it would be my advice.
from <a href='http://www.planetns.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=345&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=flayra' target='_blank'>http://www.planetns.com/forum/viewtopic.ph...ighlight=flayra</a> interview